Turkish GP for Istanbul in 2005
Istanbul has beaten off challenges from two other cities for the rights to host the F1 Turkish GP. The national motorsports federation, TOMSFED, announced yesterday that Formula One Management chief Bernie Ecclestone had chosen the capital over Antalya and Izmir, which had been the favourite [Aug 16]. A slot on the F1 calendar is expected to be made available from 2005
A contract for the race has yet to be signed and the FIA would not confirm that Istanbul had been selected. But Ecclestone said in a letter to the Turkish federation this week: "I have decided upon Istanbul. Now we need to finalize the commercial issues and the TV rights."
TOMSFED says that he had chosen Istanbul over the other candidates because of its global stature, and because it is more easily reached by road from other European countries. It has acquired land for the project on the eastern side of Istanbul, close to the city's newly completed second airport, and expects a specialist circuit designer to visit the site next week.
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